Enriching MRI mean flow data of inclined jets in crossflow with Large Eddy Simulations

•We present and demonstrate an approach to produce high quality and trustworthy datasets of non-homogeneous, complex turbulent flows. This consists of performing 3D MRI experiments and subsequently enriching them with high fidelity turbulent simulations.•An iterative method is described to prescribe inlet conditions, to ensure that both datasets portray the same flow conditions.•This approach is demonstrated in an inclined jet in crossflow with different velocity ratios. Validation shows excellent agreement between data and simulation. We discuss ideas of quantitative comparisons and explain their caveats when applied to 3D MRI data.•We show examples of simulation data that complement the experiments, namely the adiabatic effectiveness, in-hole flow, and turbulence quantities. One important conclusion is that the in-hole flow is highly non-uniform and contains secondary flows, but its exact structure is mostly insensitive to the velocity ratio.